Celesta Lowe Collection

Collected during Oral History Interviews

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Nye County Town History Photographs Volume 2 - (40) Photos

Subject: Gasoline tractor operated by Dave Fairbanks, uncle of Celesta Lisle Lowe. Dave Fairbanks is standing on the right in the white
shirt. The tractor was used to haul gold ore from a mine in Death Valley -- Zabriskie. The picture was probably taken between 1910 and
1915.

Subject: Shoshone, California, between 1910 and 1915. Herman Jones is second from the left. Fourth from the right, is Celestia Fairbanks,
grandmother of Celesta Lisle Lowe. Third from the right is R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks, husband of Celestia Fairbanks and grandfather of
Celesta Lisle Lowe. The tent is probably occupied by a visitor. The Fairbanks' home is in the background. Shorty Harris,
co-discoverer of Bullfrog, often stayed in one of the Fairbanks bedrooms. He was noted for his loud snoring, which often caused people
to think he was choking to death.

Subject: Resting Spring, California, prior to 1900. Bob Lee, the shorter man in the white shirt, is pictured with his brother, Dick Lee.
Resting Spring is located about 5 miles east of Tecopa, California, on the Old Mormon Trail. colonel John C. Fremont camped at Resting
Spring in 1844 on his return trip from California to the east.

Subject: John Quincy Lisle, father of Celesta Lisle Lowe, standing beside an ore wagon intended for use in a sodium sulphate mine,
Moapa Valley, Nevada, area, about 1930. Lisle's son-in-law, Harry Adams, and son Ralph Lisle are at the left.

Subject: Resting Spring, California, looking west. The picture was taken from a small mountain just behind Resting Spring. The roof of
the old stone cabin, constructed before 1900, is visible at the lower left.

Subject: R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks in Shoshone, California, early 1920's, before he moved to Baker, California. Cabins in the background
were moved from Greenwater, California, and the building directly behind Fairbanks was used as a school, where Celesta Lowe
attended the 1st and 2nd grade.

Subject: Goodsprings Hotel, Goodsprings, Nevada, purchased by Deke and Celesta Lowe in 1945. The building was constructed in 1916 by
the Fayle family; the Lowes resided there from 1945 to 1951. The building burned to the ground in 1966. This photo was taken in the
late 1950's.

Subject: Baker, California. The top photo, a composite, was taken about 1928, when R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks first moved to Baker and
established a service station on the wet side of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad tracks. Photo on the bottom left shows Death
Valley; on the right is a photo of Hoover Dam.

Subject: Snowfall at Greenwater, California, prior to 1907

Subject: Celestia Adelaide Fairbanks, wife of R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks, and Celesta Fairbanks (mother of Celesta Lowe) at age 16,
Annabella, Utah. This photo was taken shortly before Celestia Fairbanks joined her husband at Fairbanks Springs,
Amargosa Valley, Nevada, about 1905.

Subject: Celestia Spede Johnson and her husband, David Philo Johnson, great-grandparents of Celesta Lisle Lowe. She was the mother of 16 children.

Subject: Family picture taken at the home of Deke and Celesta Lowe, Goodsprings, Nevada 1985. Deke Lowe is 3rd from the right in back,
and Celesta Lowe is at the far right in back. All other family members are indentified in the verbatim text.

Subject: Fairbanks Spring, Ash Meadows, Nye County, Nevada, between 1905 and 1907. R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks resided at this site between
1905 and 1907 and is at the far right in the photo. Fairbanks constructed no permanent buildings; all structures on the site were tents.

Subject: Probably the Amargosa Siding, but could be the Johnny Siding, on the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad, Amargosa Valley,
Nye County, Nevada, about 1910. In the background appear to be the low hills that surrounded Ash Meadows. The Johnnie Siding was
located about where the Pahrump Highway takes off from Highway 95 in the Amargosa Valley. The Amargosa Siding was about 5 miles to
the north of the Johnnie Siding.

Subject: John Quincy "Jack" Lisle, center, father of Celesta Lowe, at a prospector's cabin. location and date unknown. Others unidentified.

Subject: R. H. "Dad" Fairbanks at the age of 70, a month or so before moving to and establishing a community at Baker, California,
about 1925. Fairbanks lived and worked at Baker until he was 85 years old. Fairbanks is recognized as a true pioneer, having been
instrumental in establishing the communities of Annabella, Utah; Fairbanks Spring, Nevada; Shoshone, California; and Baker, California.

Subject: The facilities and "community" established by R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks, Fairbanks Spring, Ash Meadows, Nye County, Nevada. The photo was taken in April 1907.

Subject: Celesta Lisle Lowe at her home at 2525 E. Twain, Las Vegas, Nevada, Christmas, about 1965. The building site was originally
part of a 40-acre homestead taken by Celesta Lowe's father, John Quincy "Jack" Lisle, in the late 1920's.

Subject: Graduation picture, Celesta Lisle Lowe, granddaughter of R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks. She graduated from El Monte High School in
California; photo taken 1934. Lowe attended high school in El Monte because there were no schools in Baker, California, where the
family was living at the time.

Subject: David Walker "Deke" Lowe, Jr., at the central train control panel, where he worked as a train dispatcher from 1950 to 1960. The control facility
was located at Union Station, Las Vegas, Nevada at the present site of the Union Plaza Hotel.

Subject: Two daughters of R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks, Vonola Fairbanks, and Stella Fairbanks Brown. Vonola is standing. The photo was taken in Long Beach,
California. It was the custom of desert dwellers, if they could afford it, to go to the beach in the summertime.

Subject: Ralph Jacobus "Dad" Fairbanks, Shoshone, California, ca. 1920. This photo was taken by a newspaper reporter from Los Angeles
who came to Shoshone and wrote a spectacular article on the many people that Fairbanks had rescued from perishing in Death Valley,
and other exploits.

Subject: Second from the left is Celesta Lisle, daughter of R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks. Next to her are her brother Vern, mother Celestia
Fairbanks, wife of R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks and grandmother of Celesta Lisle Lowe. Two small children and the man on the left are
unidentified. Photograph appears to have been taken at Green Water, California, between 1907 and 1910.

Subject: China Ranch, Amargosa River area, early 1920s. left to right, Glynn Lisle, John Lisle, Ralph Lisle; Bernice, Charles,
George Brown, and perhaps Celesta Lisle Lowe may also be pictured. the woman standing at the right is Celestia Fairbanks,
wife of R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks.

Subject: The boardinghouse constructed by R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks and his wife, Celestia, at Shoshone California, shortly after their
founding of the community in 1910. The boardinghouse fed passengers on the tonopah and Tidewater Railroad and housed local miners
and prospectors. The woman at left is Celestia Fairbanks; next to her is her husband, R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks. The man to the left of
the dog is Shorty Harris, long-time friend of Dad Fairbanks and co-founder of the gold strike at Bullfrog, Nevada. Harris did not
accompany the Fairbanks to Baker, California. Next to Shorty Harris is Herman Jones; the third man down from Herman Jones is Charlie
Brown, dressed in white shirt and dark pants. Sitting on the post at the far right is a man the world would later know as Sir Harry
Oakes. At the time this photograph was taken, about 1915, Oakes was a young man, and he and his partner had been grubstaked by Dad
Fairbanks in the Nightingale Mine, located between Shoshone and Death Valley Junction. Fairbanks had given each man $500 in
groceries and supplies to work the mine. Oakes had fallen in love with Fairbank's daughter Stella and had asked him for Stella's hand.
Thinking Oakes would not amount to much, Fairbanks turned him down. A short time later Oakes went to Australia to work for a mining
company, and became tremendously wealthy -- one of the wealthiest men in the world at that time. Oakes returned to the area in the
1940s driving a rolls Royce. With a flourish he pulled out a $1,000 bill to repay Dad Fairbanks for grubstaking him. In the meantime,
Stella had married Charlie Brown, who had also been in love with Stella, which probably had something to do with Dad originally
refusing Oakes.

Subject: John Quincy "Jack" Lisle, father of Celesta Lowe, shortly after his marriage to Celesta Fairbanks, Santa Monica, California, March 1907.
The backdrop is a painting of the Santa Monica beach.

Subject: John Quincy "Jack" Lisle at the edge of the reservoir on his homestead in the Las Vegas Valley, about 1930. The reservoir is
located not far from the present intersection of Twain and Eastern streets and was one of the best artesian wells in the Las Vegas
Valley. At the time it was necessary to take a winding road off the Boulder Highway to reach the homestead. Most people thought that
Lisle was absolutely insane to locate a homestead in such a desolate place, but Lisle, an amateur geologist, staked his claim there
because he figured that water would be abundant because the land was near the Flamingo Wash. At one time Lisle raised 40 acres of
alfalfa on the property.

Subject: Greenwater, California, about 1907. R. J. "Dad" Fairbanks hauled freight from the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad's Amargosa
Siding and Johnnie Siding to Greenwater during this period. Persons in the photo are not identified.

Subject: Death Valley Junction, California, 1924. shortly after the hotel was constructed, the Pacific Coast Borax Company constructed
a swimming pool and planted a number of trees in the square. The building at the left end of the square is the company store.
An infirmary was established at the right end of the square. The uppermost track going off to the left toward the middle of the photo,
is the narrow gauge to Ryan. The Funeral Mountains are in the background.

Subject: Photo taken at the Noonday Mine, located about 10 miles east of Tecopa, California, in 1936 or 1937. Dr. Lincoln D. Godshall,
the mine's owner (manager), is on the left, David Walker "Deke" Lowe, Jr. is in the middle and a man known only as Uncle Billy,
the watchman at the Noonday Mine for many years is on the right.

Subject: Second from left is Death Valley Scotty (Frank Scott) at Death Valley Scotty's Castle, Death Valley, California, 1952. At far
left is Lisle Lowe; on Scotty's left are Janet Lowe, David Walker "Deke" Lowe Jr., and Dale Lowe. Celesta Lowe took the picture
and was concerned that Scotty's face was partially obscured by his hat. When she asked him to turn so that his face would be
fully exposed to the sun, Scotty, who was a little grouchy at that time, replied, "God damn it, take the picture if you want
one, I'm not going to move." Celesta Lowe obligingly took the picture.

Subject: Phi Lee in front of his home at Resting Spring, about 5 miles east of Tecopa, California. this photo was taken before 1900, perhaps before 1890.
Lee is the father of the two boys, Bob Lee and Dick Lee, pictured in Photograph 3 of this collection.

Subject: Engine No. 1 of the Tecopa Railroad, which ran from Tecopa to the Noonday and Gunsight mines. At Tecopa, the railroad connected with the tonopah and Tidewater Railroad.
This picture was taken in the 1920's after the railroad folded.

Subject: Tweed Wilson, and Indian who was grandson of the founder of the Wilson Ranch west of Las Vegas, Nevada (the ranch is now known as Spring Mountain State Park),
and David Walker "Deke" Lowe, Jr., at Phi Lee's residence in the Charleston Mountains, about 1956.